Boeing's New Smartphone Self-Destructs

The 'Boeing Black' intended for government use
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 27, 2014 1:18 PM CST
Boeing's New Smartphone Self-Destructs
The Boeing Black is seen in front of an image of the Pentagon in this screenshot from a promotional video.   (Boeing)

Maybe President Obama can stop complaining about his BlackBerry. Boeing, a company normally associated with planes, is creating a new smartphone designed specifically with security in mind, the BBC reports. The "Boeing Black" features a special hardware design that causes it to effectively self-destruct if tampered with; all data will be deleted and the phone rendered useless. The Android device also has some other security features, and will contain two SIM cards so it can switch between civilian wireless networks and government ones.

Boeing expects the phone to be used "primarily by governmental agencies and their contractors," and hasn't announced a release date, price point, or even what carriers it's working with. "We saw a need for our customers in a certain market space," a spokeswoman said, according to Reuters. Quartz speculates that Boeing is filling the void left by BlackBerry's freefall, while the Verge wonders how the self-destruct feature will work if the phone runs out of charge. (More Boeing stories.)

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